Evidence-based cardiovascular therapies and achievement of therapeutic goals in diabetic patients with coronary heart disease attended in primary care.

Background: Diabetic patients have a higher rate of recurrent cardiovascular events and death than nondiabetic individuals. Although partially attributable to lower use of evidence-based preventive therapies, studies are lacking on the prescription rate during the stable phase of the disease.

Methods: Between June 1 and October 19, 2004, we obtained, from 1799 primary care centers throughout Spain, data on 8817 subjects (mean age 65.4 years, 73.7% male, 32.7% with diabetes) who had had a coronary event requiring hospitalization in the previous 6 months to 10 years.

Results: After adjustment for confounding variables, the diabetic patients received more frequent treatment with angiotensin-renin system blockers (73.5% vs 61%, P < .001), calcium channel blockers (29.8% vs 21.9%, P < .001), nitrates (58% vs 47.5%, P < .001), digoxin (6.6% vs 3.9%, P < .001), and diuretics (46.2% vs 32.2%, P < .001), but it is similar with respect to lipid-lowering drugs (81.1% vs 80.3%), antiplatelet drugs (80.2% vs 80.2%), or beta-blockers (45.4% vs 47.7%). The percentage of diabetic subjects attaining objectives for smoking habit, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, and glycated hemoglobin were 90.7%, 29%, 38.2%, and 49.7%, respectively. Only 7% had optimum control of all their risk factors. The parameters most closely related to optimum treatment and risk-factor control were the specialist follow-up and the attending physician's awareness of appropriate treatment objectives.

Conclusions: A significant percentage of diabetic patients with stable coronary disease receive evidence-based preventive medications in primary care. However, the percentage achieving adequate control of their risk factors is low and is related to the level of physician awareness of appropriate therapeutic targets.